Dark Prophecies
by thundersenshi
Summary: Their guilds have fallen seven years ago. But a dark prophecy beckons the remains of defeated spirits. Will old leaders rise to conquer again? Extended epilogue of the Houshi chronicles.
1. Prologue: The Beginning and the End

**Prologue – Beginning and the End**

The war was over. The castle had fallen, but the guild survived. In a manner of speaking, that is. In the months that followed that concluded the devastation of Houshi and their allying guilds, the lives of those involved had made a complete turn. The guild itself had disbanded a few months shy of its fourth year anniversary.

Rahkee had fallen into a coma. The two other Calmirsson brothers took care of him until he stirred to life nearly a year after the end of the war. By then, his brother Colbey was living with Pai Tokudaiji—Chi no Houshi guildmistress, also known as Pisces—and had their own family, and Arkalen was a high priest.

As for Rahkee's memories and as to their return, no stories were told. He was brought to Port Monk, in hopes that Rubalkabara, Pisces' biological father, could revive him. Unfortunately, the knight's condition remained a mystery to him also, in spite of the high-tiered clerical powers he possessed. The elderly priest gave the unconscious knight a long look and pronounced that his mind had completely closed off to the surface world. His memories were barred, he warned them. He had encountered similar cases before, people who have suffered severe trauma or extreme emotional pain, but he could only surmise how much the knight was going to be able to remember once he woke up. Not even Rubalkabara had been able to penetrate that far deep into the recesses of his mind. Rahkee was determined to forget something, and he was effectively blocking all attempts to help him regain his memories back along with his consciousness. When he finally did wake up, it was as Rubalkabara had said.

Tales of the redheaded Calmirsson knight had ended on that note. No one could say if he ever faced his inner demons and gained back memories of his family, his friends, the war, the guild…his guildmistress.

Tetsuya Shinjo had disappeared in the mission to retrieve Cat's Eye in Morroc during the war. At the end of it, his sweetheart, Chiaki, had set off on her own to search for him. The only thing she had left her friends and guildmates was a hastily written letter, apologizing for her absence.

Before the Houshi troops moved to Al de Baran at the beginning of the war, Seth Vincent Cain bade his guildmistress farewell to deal with his own affairs and search for the serum that would cure him of his vampiric bloodthirst. Young Gareth Gravewell, son of the old friend to whom he owed his life, went with him. They never returned to the guildhouse in Prontera, even after the war was over.

Zero Aerthel traveled west with Zoey, his sister, and Yozora, now his lover. Two years later, Isil Moonbay was able to finish her study of alchemy in Juno. Shakir Khaleel, who had joined the ranks of the new wave of crusaders a year earlier, was able to bump into her at the continuation of the second Underground Holy War that took place in the city of the skies.

Kaoko de Vale, at the advent of Juno, went home to Amatsu with her sisters Kaoren and Kaozen.

Heliase Ashellenden, the mysterious half-elf known as Cat's Eye, had given birth to a healthy baby boy nine months after her capture in Morroc. She would not say who fathered it, or at least whom she thought did. It was naturally assumed that it was conceived when The Rogue had compromised her, when she was held captive in his lair. Her friends and guildmates, fearing it to be a delicate subject to broach, never put it to question to her. The young boy was called Njall, and carried the name of Ashellenden. He took after his mother in features, including the cat-like golden eyes that were unique only to the elven Ashellendens, not giving a clue as to who his father might be. The only one who knew the truth aside from the mother herself was Yozora and no one else.

At the restoration years of the city capital, Catarina Zeich took it upon herself to see that her sister, Sybilla, become an accomplished alchemist. In this task, she asked for the favor of Isil who had been schooling in Juno to finish the same studies as well. Five years later, she had settled into quiet, married life in a mansion in Prontera and had retired from work. She had lost contact with Xylven years before, and the beautiful half-elf, who used to be her best friend and mentor, continued to elude her. Even so, Xylven did not disappear from her life completely. There were letters written, and, when Cat was expecting her first child, Xylven had come to visit.

Catarina had two daughters and two sons.

Everyone thought they were going to be inseparable, but when the guilds were disbanded years earlier, Xylven Ashellenden had mysteriously set off on her own for quite some time. Not even Catarina had an inkling of where she had gone off to. What the others did not know was that Xylven, once the guildmistress of Ten no Houshi, had traveled and roamed the continent quite freely after the defeat of her guilds. For the longest time, she had lived in Payon, back to the elven village where she had grown up, with her grandfather, Valadil. After some time, she grew restless again. She traveled from the outskirts of Morroc to Al de Baran, lived in Comodo and Lutie for some time, before living for a few years in Juno where she met with Shakir, by then a wise old veteran of the crusades. She was in search of her human mother, the legendary crusader, Ceres Silvery. Somehow, Xylven had gotten hold of disturbing information regarding Ceres, who should have been dead long ago. Clues pointed to Juno, but in spite of all her work at tracking, and getting help from Shakir besides, she never found Ceres. She never verified whether or not her mother was alive; nor was she able to unravel the truth behind her mother's link to the series of brutal murders rooting from the first Underground Holy War.

Long-lived as elves and their kin are wont to be, even those who were half-blood, six scores of years had passed before Xylven had lived out the rest of her years in Amatsu. In this home, she found her peace, serving as a member of the high council for years and leaving her legacy to an adopted son and daughter.

But in her death, and Pisces', the chronicles of the Houshi had come to a close. It would still be centuries later before the dawn of the next successors would come. In their deaths, the stars of the one hundred and eight spirits had fallen into slumber. In this age, the roles have been played, the heroes have been chosen, and a single destiny for each of them had been fulfilled.

And so it was. In this age.

But the threads woven into destinies are rarely singular. It is never only one that happens at a time. In the age of Chaos, the said events occurred accordingly. However, in another world, at precisely the same time, the turning point of their lives wheeled the other way around.

For Sakray pulled on a different string in Destiny's ball of yarn, turning almost everything completely upside down.

Starting from the defeat of the Houshi and total annihilation of its prophecy.

In another world, at precisely the same time, Rahkee Calmirsson was dead. His brother Colbey had returned with a bride named Rebecca in his arms. Pai Tokudaiji had succumbed into a deeper, inevitable evil that was the curse of her blood. Mai Tokudaiji had lost her innocence to a man whose atonement never brought back her old self. The war did not end; new ones had started afresh, but this time, different prizes and consequences were at stake. At Sybilla Zeich's return to the capital, she was met with the devastating news of her sister's death. She vows to extract revenge from those whom she believed caused the loss of Catarina Zeich. Xylven Ashellenden was bound and captured for ransom after her guild dispersed in defeat. How she had managed to escape was unknown, but in seven years time, she was just another forgotten bounty. Who would worry about the successors of an insignificant guild when its people and leaders had all but vanished into thin air, their allies crushed, and more than half a decade had already passed by?


	2. Chapter One: The Guise

Chapter One: The Guise 

Hadrian just sat there, assessing the view in front of him with his one good eye carefully, unnervingly silent, as Kael and his men approached him. The captured woman was nearly concealed by the assassins that flanked her sides, and Kael himself, their leader, was walking directly in front of her. Still, even with the dimly lit hall, one could see the unmistakable shine of her naked arms, the outline of her bowed head, and the frame of her long, dark hair. She was a tall woman. Two men at either side of her held one of her arms each, but he could already see that despite her rigid posture, she was not struggling.

He was already frowning when Kael and his men stopped a few paces in front of him, and bowed in deference.

"We have successfully captured her, my lord, as Master Ridel had instructed."

Hadrian merely watched them for a moment, uttering not a word, not even a grunt to acknowledge their presence. The sound of footsteps died when Kael and his men stopped advancing, and now the hall, save for the faint flickering and crackling of torches, was eerily silent.

After a long pause, Kael heard the swish of dense velvet robes against the smoothness of the marbled floor. He swiftly drew to the side, and his men at the back brought the woman up front for Hadrian.

Her head was still lowered. Hadrian reached out and lifted her chin up, his eye pouring over her features. He was not in the least bit surprised to see her glaring back at him, defiantly, but she stayed silent under his scrutiny. A corner of his mouth turned up a bit as he wondered how she managed it…perhaps by biting holes into her tongue.

"So," Hadrian started, speaking up for the first time since they came into his hall. "This is the woman."

Kael heard the statement rather than the question. "Yes, my lord," he replied.

"I suppose you couldn't have dressed her up decently first before presenting her to me," he remarked dryly.

The woman was wearing a dark blue camisole that barely reached past her knees. It might not have been overly revealing to begin with, but the black lace that covered certain parts of the material was ruined. There had obviously been a fierce struggle when the kidnapping happened, as bruises covered her body, and even her neck had a cut encrusted with dried up blood. Her dark hair was a scraggly heap that enshrouded her small face.

"You are certain this is her, Kael."

Again, it did not sound like a question. Yet Kael replied as thus: "We were given strict instructions as to her whereabouts." The masked assassin's eyes slipped about the woman's face for a fraction of a second and a barely perceptible scowl formed underneath his mask. "I am certain this is the woman whose capture Master Ridel ordered, my lord."

Hadrian's sharp eye missed nothing, and he directed his attention back to the woman again, turning her head slightly with his hand. "I was told the elven maiden was a great beauty. Yet this woman," he said, his single eye taking in her features again; from her scalding blue eyes, the dark circles around them, the light tan of her skin, to her pointed ears, "seems none too remarkable."

She shifted her head violently away from his grasp. "A pity," he said, with a bit of mirth, looking at her thoughtfully. "Such women of competence are rarely gifted with physical beauty. Understandably, female warriors here aren't much to look at, and none too different from the men. When some of the lieutenants heard about you, it caused a bit of…excitement."

"Pity that I will have to disappoint," she spoke out for the first time, her tone exceedingly scathing and betraying her disgust.

Hadrian smiled. Then he turned to the men. "Leave us."

Kael bowed, and did as he was told. His men were prompt on his heels.

When they were gone, Hadrian gave the woman a short bow. Then he said, "You are a guest here, my lady, however it may seem otherwise. Do not take offense at my frank assessment of you; else you'll be taking offense at everything around here. It is merely our way—" he paused, and turned thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "—or just mine, in particular. As you might have surmised before arriving here, your summons is hardly a matter of face value. You could look like a bathory and you still would have ended up here."

"And you are sure about that?" the woman tersely queried, annoyed at his implication that her capture would have been a guaranteed success at any given time.

"Yes," Hadrian replied simply. "We would have stopped at nothing."

"And I am a guest, you say?" she practically spat out. Her bound wrists held tightly clenched fists. "From what culture do you barbarians come from?"

Hadrian merely smiled again, indicating a patience for which he was quite known among the elders. "I also apologize on Kael's behalf. He usually isn't so unruly. You must have done something to irk him on the journey."

When the woman's expression changed at this statement, Hadrian's smile widened. He was right on the money again. "Perhaps," was the woman's only reply. But it was Hadrian's next statement that startled her.

"You are not what you appear to be."

Before she could fully comprehend what his cryptic statement meant, he reached out to touch a lock of her ebony hair. As he did so, its color changed to a silver sheen. The woman gasped and backed away, her eyes ablaze.

"Tell me, Lady Ashellenden, are your eyes really blue?"


End file.
